Hero League 2: Villain League
by tsukiryoushi
Summary: Danny and the Hero League must face off against Vlad Plasmius and his new gang of villains! Sequel to Hero League.
1. The League Returns

Here it is at long last! Hero League 2: Villain League! Hope Nobody minded waiting so long.

I've gotta warn you tho, the first chapter stinks. I tried to make it as original as possible but still haveit Justice League-like, so it's kinda weird. But it'll be better next time. Enjoy!

(Still own nothing.)

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Hero League 2: Villain League

The City of Townsville. A quiet, peaceful place.

Or at least it was before.

For now, the evil Vlad Plasmius had decided to raid the Townsville Institute of Science for a device known as the Electroinfier.

Vlad phased through the wall of the institute and picked up the small device.

"Ah, the electronifier." He said. "With this, I can create vast amounts of electric energy! Just the thing I need to power my laboratory back home."

Vlad put the device into a pouch and ghosted out of the building.

"And the best part" He continued, flying through the air. "Is that Townsville's only heroes the Powerpuff Girls are away. So no-one is here to stop me!"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Vlad stopped and turned to face the person who was speaking and found none other than Danny Phantom!"

"You!" Said Vlad. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard your lab was out of power, so I knew you'd be after a new energy source. And since Townsville's Institute of Science had just unveiled the electronifier, on the same week its heroes were away, well I just knew you couldn't pass it up."

"Very good Daniel. You seem to have gotten smarter as you aged. Though I wonder, how is it you still get such low grades?"

"Dude! Quit bringing that up!"

Vlad just smiled evilly and multiplied into three Vlads.

The three of them flew at Danny and punched him straight to the ground.

Vlad pulled himself together and landed not far away from where Danny was now getting back up.

"A bit of advice my boy," He said. "When going to face your nemesis on new turf, never go alone."

"I didn't." Danny replied.

Vlad was confused for a moment till something sent him flying into a nearby wall.

He shook off the pain and turned to see it was a brown haired boy about Danny's age, holding a key-like weapon. Next to him were two girls, a dragon, and a blue hedgehog.

"Vlad," Said Danny, walking up to them. "I'd like you to meet… the Hero League!"

"Ah yes," Said Vlad. "I heard you'd found some new playmates. But I'm afraid even they won't be enough to stop me."

Vlad raised his hand and fired an ecto blast at them. The team scattered to avoid the shot and Vlad thought he was winning till someone tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned to see Sonic standing behind him. "Hey Vladdy boy, ya missed me!" Vlad shot another blast at the hedgehog only to find Sonic once again behind him. "Missed me again!" Another blast. "Missed me again Vlad! Three strikes and you're out!" Sonic ran away again. Vlad was about to follow when a pink object was thrown at his feet. It exploded and sent Vlad flying a good ten feet.

When he got back on his feet he saw Clover.

"Ghost-bombs." She said with a grin. "The perfect accessory for the girl on the go."

Vlad, now thoroughly frustrated fired at Clover with an ecto blast at her, only to find out that what he thought was Clover was actually a hologram. He looked and saw that she was actually on a nearby roof.

"And of course I'd never go anywhere without my trusty hologram projector!" She said with a smile.

"Oh, that really burns me up!" Vlad exclaimed.

"You think _that_ burns you up?" Jake called out, flying above Vlad. "Well try this!" Jake blasted Vlad with a jet of dragon flame.

Vlad soon recovered and just grinned smugly. "Is that all you twerps have got?"

"Not even close!" Vlad turned around and saw June jump at him. She gave him a round-house kick that sent him flying several feet away.

June and the others watched, but when they saw Vlad turn back to his human form they all breathed a sigh of relief. It was over.

"Wow," Said Sonic, as he and the others walked up to June. "I can't believe Danny's arch-nemesis got his but kicked by a girl!" June punched his arm. "Ow!" Clover did the same. "OW!"

"Good job guys!" Said Danny. Looks like Vlad's finally going where he belongs."

"I think not!" Said Vlad, as he struggled to get back to his feet. "There is no way I'm going to be defeated by the likes of you!" Vlad went ghost and shot ecto blasts at them before any of them, even Sonic could react.

The six of them fell to their knees, and Vlad knew now was his chance. He lifted his arms and began to form a giant ball of ectoplasmic energy. "Sorry, _children_," He said. "But it's time for lights out… permanently!"

It looked like the end for the League, but suddenly, a dark figure jumped out of nowhere, sliced the ball of energy in half, kicked Vlad down, jumped away from the ecto explosion, and landed gracefully in front of the league, all in the blink of an eye.

"Nice to see you finally decided to show up." Said Danny, finally regaining enough strength to stand.

"Yeah," Jake added. "Where've you been Hiei?"

Hiei turned to the others with what could have been a smile… or as much of a smile as Hiei could manage. "I wasn't going to come at all. But I know none of you could manage without me."

"For once, you were right." Said Danny. "Thanks Hiei."

"Don't thank me yet Phantom. We still have your friend over there to deal with."

"Right. Hero League, GO!" the others stared blankly at him. "…what?"

"'Hero League go'?" Jake asked.

"Dude, that is so unoriginal." Sonic commented.

"Yeah, hasn't it been done already?" Clover wondered.

"What kind of team do you think we are, trying to make up ridiculous catch phrases?" Hiei grumbled.

"All right, all right!" Danny shouted. We'll skip the catch phrases; can we please just stop Vlad?"

The others complied and they ran to where Hiei had left Vlad.

Vlad by now was regaining his footing and looked to see the League running up.

"Ready to give up Vlad?" Danny asked.

"Oh Daniel," Vlad replied, smug as ever. "You're as misguided as ever. I'm still far more powerful than you, and you foolish friends are no match for my intellect. So you may as well give up! No matter what you do I will always…" Vlad didn't finish what he was saying. Instead, he grabbed his head, as if in pain. He cried out and turned back into his human form before falling over.

"Vlad?" Danny asked, as he walked over to examine his enemy.

"Wow," Said Sonic. "That was easy. What'd ya do Hiei, give him one of your oh-so deadly glares? Haha!" Hiei punched Sonic in the shoulder. "Ow!" Clover did the same. "OW!" June did too. "OW! What was that for!"

"Nothing." She replied. "I just think it's fun to hit you."

"Hey, can I try?" Sora asked.

"Guys," said Danny. "There's something really wrong with Vlad, I think we need to get him to a hospital."

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And that's where I end this chapter cause I'm lazy. Hope you all stay tuned for the next one!


	2. A Hard Truth

Hey there. Sorry about the delay, I had writer's block like you wouldn't believe! Anyhow, here's the next chapter, hope you like it.

(I don't own anything. Just ask my friends.)

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Vlad opened his eyes slowly. He felt sluggish for some reason, and his head was throbbing.

"What hit me?" He asked himself. He then remembered his battle against Danny and the Hero League and realized he was in a hospital. "Oh, how can this get worse?"

"Hi Vladdy!" Jack shouted cheerfully, as he entered the room.

"I had to ask…" Vlad grumbled. He looked and saw Mattie, Danny in his ghost form, a doctor and a guard walk in. "What's going on, where am I?"

"After you lost consciousness I got you to a hospital." Danny explained. "You're being kept under surveillance now. You're under arrest for robbery, kidnapping, assault, attempted murder, fraud, and a bunch of other stuff."

"But why did I pass out? And why do I feel so strange?"

"That would be from your loss of your ghost powers." The doctor explained.

"What!"

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton here, along with Mr. Phantom, explained how you'd gained your powers from exposure to a crudely built ghost portal years ago."

"Yes, what of it?"

"You also came down with a case of ecto-acne, is that right?"

"Yes…"

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but that was just the first stage of a very serious disease. One we are only now learning about. It's been growing like a cancer all these years and has finally nullified your ghost powers."

"What? That's impossible!"

"I'm afraid it isn't Vlad." Jack said seriously.

"We did some tests of our own," Mattie added. "And I'm afraid its true."

"Your condition has been made worse by the use of ghost powers." The doctor continued. "I'm afraid its terminal. I'm sorry."

"No…" Vlad gasped. "No, it can't be. I don't believe it! I'll get a second opinion!"

"I'm afraid it would do no good."

"I'm sorry Vlad." Said Danny. "You've got some time left… I'll make sure you can spend it comfortably while in prison."

"No!" Vlad almost screamed. "This is your fault! All of you!" He pointed an accusing finger at Jack, Mattie, and Danny. "You did this, and I'll make you all pay! Just you wait Daniel. I'll ruin you yet, first by telling everyone your secret! That you are Danny Fenton!"

"Someone call me?" A boy asked, walking in. Vlad was amazed to see Danny Fenton standing next to Danny Phantom.

"You were saying?" Danny Phantom asked.

_I don't know how you did it Daniel, _Vlad thought. _But it doesn't matter. I'll destroy you yet. _"Apparently I was mistaken…" Vlad said, dejectedly. "Now if you would all be so kind, I'd like to be alone."

Danny and the others nodded and walked out.

The guard stayed at the door, the doctor went to visit another patient, and Danny, Jack, Mattie, and Danny Fenton walked to the waiting room and met up with June and Sonic.

"How'd it go?" Sonic asked.

"Okay, I guess." Danny replied. "It's never easy telling someone they only have a short time left to live. Even when its your arch-enemy."

"Did he try to reveal your identity?" June asked.

"Yep. Fortunately our backup plan worked. Thanks again Jake."

"No problem." The Danny Fenton clone replied. Jake had used a transformation potion earlier and changed himself into Danny Fenton, just in case Vlad tried to reveal Danny's identity.

"So what'll happen to him now?" Sonic asked.

"He'll be taken care of in prison." Jack replied. "And we'll do all we can to help his disease."

"I kind of feel sorry for the guy." Said Jake. "Sure he was a psycho, but it must be awful to have to go through something like this."

Danny nodded in agreement.

Later, after he was let out of the hospital, Vlad was tried and convicted on all charges and sent to a special high security prison for super-villains, where he would have medical care for as long as he lived. Though it wasn't long.

Vlad, now dressed in an orange prison suit, was led to his cell by two guards. It was a simple room, furnished only with a TV, a bed, and a sink. A door on the other side of the room undoubtedly led to the bathroom.

The walls had been reinforced to contain a person with ghost powers, despite the fact that Vlad no longer possessed them.

Vlad grimaced at his new home, but the worst part was the awful opera music coming from next door.

"What is that noise?" He asked.

"That's your new neighbor, Doctor Ivo Robotnik." The guard replied. "He's taken a liking to opera. Enjoy your stay."

The guard led Vlad inside and left him, locking the door behind him. Vlad covered his ears and groaned at the awful sound coming through the walls.

"I'll get you for this Daniel…" He vowed. "I'll destroy you and your Hero League. I swear it!"

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A short chapter, I know, but I just thought I should end it there. You'll like the next chapter better, I promise.


	3. Boredom And a Dark Alliance

Sorry for the late update everyone. And this chapter's kinda short, but I felt it was best to end it where I did. Anyhow, enjoy.

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It had been a full week since Vlad had been put in jail, and the Hero League had a nice long vacation. Amazingly, no big crimes had occurred since Vlad was captured. Everything was peaceful.

Or at least, it should have been.

To tell the truth, the League was going nuts without a mission to go on. For the time being, the group of six friends – and Hiei – Were just hanging out on Specter Star.

"SONIC!" June shouted, as a blue blur ran past Danny, who was sitting at the control panel. "GET BACK HERE!" The Te Xuan Ze ran after the Hedgehog, looking like she was ready to do some damage.

"What'd he do now?" Jake asked as he walked into the control room.

"That immature blue rodent won't stop bugging me!" June replied, finally stopping.

"Hey," Said Sonic, popping up next to June. "Who you calling a rodent?" June was about to grab Sonic when he zoomed away again. He stopped next to Hiei, who was brooding on an upper level of the control room. "June, you're just too slow. I feel sorry for all of you, who'll never attain the speeds Hiei and I can reach, am I right Hiei?" Sonic placed a hand on Hiei's shoulder, prompting one of Hiei's famous glares.

"Take your hand off me…" He said threateningly. "…before I cut it off and turn it into an ash tray."

Sonic blinked. "You wouldn't do that… would you?" In reply, Hiei began to draw his sword. Sonic moved his hand and backed away.

"Dork." Said June.

"Can we please keep it down?" Danny asked. "Some of us are trying to work?"

"On what?" Jake asked. "There's been nothing going on."

"No, but something might happen sooner or later. And we have to be ready when it does."

"I didn't realize saving the world could ever be so boring." Sonic whined, leaning on the railing.

Sora and Clover walked in carrying trays of food. "Lunch is ready!" Clover called cheerfully. "You know, cooking isn't as hard as I thought."

"Yeah," Said Sora. "It's pretty easy when you have a replicator doing all the actual work."

Sora and Clover passed everyone their food and they eagerly dug in. Especially Sonic, who immediately stuffed his face with Chili dog. Danny however kept working.

"Dude, take a break and eat something." Jake suggested.

"Yeah, you've been working all day." June added. "Aren't you overdoing it?"

Danny sat back and gave a sigh. "You're right… I guess after all these years all my ghost enemies have pretty much stopped trying, and now that we've put most of our enemies in jail, including Vlad, I feel… kinda useless."

Hiei simply gave a "hmph."

"What?" Danny asked the demon.

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself." Hiei replied. "You're complaining about having done your job too well, and frankly it's pathetic."

"Hiei, maybe you should let up on him a little…" Clover suggested. But Danny just shook his head. "No, he's right. To tell the truth, I never really expected to ever finally beat Vlad. Now that I have, its kind of weird."

"I know what you mean." Said Sonic. "Back when I put Eggman behind bars things got kinda boring. But there's always gonna be some bad guy to stop, and you can bet everyone's favorite blue blur's gonna save the day. …With a little help from his friends." Sora smacked Sonic. "Ow!"

"Hey, that is fun!" Said Sora.

Danny laughed. "Thanks guys, I needed a good laugh. Now let's eat."

The others happily agreed and the team enjoyed their lunch.

Meanwhile, Vlad wasn't enjoying himself at all. He paced his cell holding his ears, trying to filter out the loud music coming from Robotnik's cell.

"Doesn't he ever turn that music off!" Vlad demanded. He walked over to the wall and pounded on it. "Keep it down! Can't you let a man die in peace!"

If Robotnik had heard him he hadn't showed it. The music continued.

_How has it come to this? _Vlad asked himself. _How could this happen? Here I am, dying, powerless, and I'm subjected to this awful music. That Robotnik should have stuck to building weapons instead of becoming and opera fan._

Then it hit him. Robotnik, if what he saw on the news could be believed, was one of the world's foremost inventors, and had built amazing weapons no other scientist could even come close to matching. And if he remembered correctly, it was Robotnik's own grandfather who had built the weapon responsible for shooting a hole in the moon. Such genius could be very valuable.

Vlad turned to the small television set across from his bed. Being fairly good with electronics himself, he opened a panel and did some rewiring.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik, also known as Eggman, was enjoying a performance of "The Marriage of Figaro" on TV, when the image on the screen changed to that of Vlad Masters, who had rigged the television and security cameras to create a crude two way communicator device.

"Doctor Robotnik, I presume?" Said Vlad.

"Vlad Masters," Robotnik said, unsurprised. "To what do I owe the honor of making your acquaintance?"

"I have a proposition to Make. One that could make you rich, give you your freedom, and help you take revenge on a certain blue rodent."

Robotnik leaned forward. "I'm listening…"


	4. The Villains Unite

I am so sorry for the lack of updates everyone! I had the absolute worst writer's block for this story ever! Not to mention most of the villains are probably OOC. Sorry if they are.

Anyway, this chapter has some reference to Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Spider-Man and the movie X-Men 3 The Last Stand, so keep an eye open for them.

(I do not own anyone in this story except for one character, and I'll tell you which one at the end of the chapter.)

The guard wheeled in the cart carrying dinner for the prisoners. His next stop was Robotnik's cell.

Using the special key card and code, the guard opened the door and pushed the cart in.

"All right Robotnik, dinner time." He called.

"Thank you," Robotnik replied, as he sat on his cot reading a magazine. "Would you mind bringing it here? I'm afraid I'm feeling a little under the weather."

The guard simply shrugged his shoulders and decided "why not?" After all, Robotnik had been a model citizen so far. And it wasn't like he'd set a trap or anything.

The guard wheeled the cart into the cell and moved closer to the prisoner.

With an evil grin, Robotnik pressed a button on a specially made remote, causing the floor beneath the guard to become electrically charged.

The guard didn't even have time to shout for help before the shock rendered him unconscious, and Robotnik knelt down beside him.

"You'd be amazed at what you can do with a few wires from some ordinary electronic appliances." He chuckled, as he took something from the guard's pocket.

He casually walked out of his cell and stepped up to Vlad's cell door.

"Good news Vlad," He called through the door. "I'm out."

"Good!" Vlad replied. "Did you get one of the key cards?"

"No, without the code they're useless. So I took the guard's cell phone instead."

"Cell phone! What do you intend to do with that, order pizza!"

"Perhaps later. As for now, I'm going to call in some help." Robotnik held the phone in his hand and dialed in a number.

He held the phone up to his ear and soon heard a recording of his own voice. "You've reached the evil lair of Doctor Ivo Robotnik. I am not here right now, so if you wish to leave a message, press 1. If this is me in need of assistance, press 2 and dial in password."

"What is going on out there?" Vlad demanded, pounding on his cell door. Suddenly, the wall nearby was blasted away and Vlad turned to see Robotnik standing in his mech.

"I've designed all my machines with special modems so that they can be accessed by phone," The doctor explained. "Just in case I need to call up some assistance."

"Very clever." Vlad admitted, climbing onto the mech. He heard the alarms and knew that guards were on their way. "Now let's get out of here!"

The mech's legs lifted up close to its body as rockets lifted it of the floor. Robotnik aimed for another wall and fired a hole in it, creating a door to the outside world.

"Hang on!" He said, as he piloted the mech over the prison yard and into the nearby city of Retrovile.

Robotnik landed in an empty alley and Vlad hopped down to the ground.

"Excellent work." Vlad congratulated his new partner. "Now, to find a suitable place to get my plan started."

"Indeed," Robotnik agreed as he heard sirens nearby. "But we'll need to get the law off our backs." He looked at an old apartment building nearby. "What say we give them something else to occupy their time?"

Robotnik armed his lasers and fired at the base of the building, causing it to burst into flames.

Meanwhile, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, Hiei began closing in on the two villains when he noticed the burning building, from which people were quickly escaping. He had come to Retrovile suspecting something would soon happen, but was shocked to discover Vlad had teamed up with Eggman himself. _The Phantom and that foolish Hedgehog are in for a surprise. _He thought quickly as the firemen and paramedics arrived at the burning building. _It will serve them right, wishing for more excitement._

He spotted Vlad and Robotnik beating a hasty retreat down the alley and was about to follow when he heard a scream. He turned quickly and heard a women crying to the firemen that her daughter was still trapped in the building.

Hiei turned again to see Vlad and Robotnik getting away, but turned back to the building.

_I don't have time for this! _He shouted mentally. _Those two fools are escaping! Surely those humans can take care of things? But then, since when have humans done anything right? _He looked back at the fleeing villains once more, but growled when he found himself jumping to the roof of the burning building. "Damn it!" He growled. "I must be out of my mind!"

He used his sword to cut a hole in the roof and jumped in. The flames were enormous, but since when did a little fire bother _him_?

He quickly searched through the rooms, but soon found the girl hiding in a small room, cowering in fear of the flames.

Hiei approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright," He said, in a surprisingly gentle tone. "I've come to get you out of here." He lifted the girl up and she gratefully held onto his neck.

Holding the girl with one hand, Hiei ran out the door and searched for a way out that wasn't engulfed in flames. Fire may not hurt him, but it would hurt the girl.

He decided the best way out would be the way he came in and made his way up the stairs, only to find the entire top floor engulfed in flames.

Holding the terrified girl close, Hiei searched frantically for another exit, but was shocked when the stairs beneath him gave way, causing him to fall.

Hiei was about to use his demon speed to save himself when he realized that he had no idea if the girl would be affected by it.

Hiei had no clue what to do next, but heard something crash through the roof and fly through the flames.

The being grabbed Hiei and halted his fall.

Looking up, he saw none other than Jake in dragon form.

"We've gotta stop meeting like this." Jake joked.

"Enough with the jokes Dragon." Hiei grumbled. "How do we get this girl out of here without burning her to a crisp?"

"Don't worry, help's on the way."

"Well I hope it gets here soon." Hiei continued, as he noticed the gas pipes nearby. "If not, we're all in for a barbeque."

The next thing Hiei knew, a hole was blasted through the wall, putting out the nearby flames to create an effective exit.

Clover looked inside as her jetpack held her up. "Come on, this way!"

Jake flew through the opening and he and Clover got as far away as they could just before an explosion tore through the building.

Jake put Hiei back on the ground and a woman rushed to them.

Recognizing the woman, he handed her daughter gently to her.

The woman took the child and thanked Hiei as she hugged her daughter closely.

"You know," Said Jake. "I'm used to being thanked when I save someone."

"I'm not used to being saved." Hiei replied flatly.

After about an hour, the fire was out, and the paramedics were busy dealing with some burns and cases of smoke-inhalation.

"Shouldn't they check you?" Clover asked concernedly, as she, Jake and Hiei watched the commotion.

"No," Hiei replied. "I'm not human, remember? I'm as impervious to fire as Jake is."

"Oh. Good."

"What were you two doing here, anyway?"

"Your communicator signaled us." Jake replied.

"It what?"

"Yeah, Tails and Tucker designed a special feature on them to alert us to any trouble one of us might be in." Clover answered. "Pretty clever, huh?"

"Where's the Phantom?"

"He and the others are taking care of some trouble in Amity Park."

"I see. Well we need to get to them right away. I have some pretty bad news for our fearless leader and our speedy blue mascot."

Later, the League reassembled on Specter Star and were now watching the news.

"This is Chet Ubetcha," Said the miniature reporter. "Reporting live from Retrovile, where newly revealed criminal mastermind, Vlad Masters, and evil genius, Ivo Robotnik, have escaped maximum security and disappeared. In a related story, disaster struck at a local apartment building which was set on fire by the escaped criminals. All tenants escaped with only minor injuries, but tragedy nearly struck when a 4 year old girl became trapped inside. Fortunately, she was rescued by three members of the Hero League, Dragon Boy, Tech Girl, and the Ninja. Back to you Janet."

"Thanks Chet." The female reporter replied. "In other news, repairs to the Brooklyn Bridge continue after the mutant attack last month prompted by a so-called 'cure'. Sources say-"

"Wait a minute!" Sonic shouted, barely able to control his laughter. "'Dragon boy'? 'Tech Girl'? 'Ninja'? Dude, where'd they come up with those names?" Sonic fell over and laughed his head off, much to Jake and Clover's displeasure.

"I know how you guys feel." Said Danny. "I'm still stuck with 'Inviso-bill.'"

"Who comes up with these stupid names!" Clover demanded.

"Could be that guy at the Daily Bugle in New York," Jake suggested. "He's always thinking up names like that. What was his name…? It started with a J, I think…"

"Can we focus on the matter at hand?" Hiei demanded. "Vlad and Robotnik are still at large!"

"Hiei's right." Said Danny. "Vlad may not have his powers anymore, but teamed up with Robotnik, he may prove to be dangerous."

"Puh-lease." Sonic scoffed. "Eggman's no big deal. I'll round him and Vlad up in no time!"

"I don't know Sonic." Sora chimed in. "Bad guys are always worse when they work together."

"Yeah, but come on," June added. "It's only two of them. And heroes are always better when they work together too, right?"

"Well yeah, that's true."

"Whatever we do," Danny said, turning to face the team. "I say we do it as soon as possible. We can't forget that while these guys are, well fruit-loops, they're still dangerous." The others nodded in reply. "Alright then. Let's go and find our villains!"

The league made their way to the hangar where the Specter I was parked.

"I still say two bad guys is no big deal…" Sonic said to himself.

The next night, a shadowy figure lurked into an abandoned warehouse located in Amity Park.

He stepped inside and saw nothing but darkness.

"Huh," Said the red-haired teenager. "Wonder what I'm supposed to do now."

"Who are you?" The teenager turned to see a blue-haired woman with black clothes and goth makeup standing behind him.

"Name's Jack," He replied. "Jack Spicer. And what's your name good-looking?"

"Name's Ember." She answered. "Just Ember. Now what are you doing here?"

"I came here cause I heard there was a job. What about you?"

"Same thing."

"Oh, so maybe we'll be working together?"

"Ugh, I hope not." Ember heard someone walk up behind her and turned to see a large ogre. "And who… or what are you."

"Me Og." The ogre replied dumbly.

"Oh great," Ember grumbled. "Looks like I may be working with a bunch of _geniuses _here."

"Hey, for your information, I _am _a genius!" Jack said defensively. "Check this out! Jack-bots!" Several robots appeared and surrounded Ember and Og.

Suddenly though, the robots short-circuited and fell to the ground.

"Wh-what gives!" Jack demanded.

"Some genius." Jack, Ember, and Og turned to see a blue skinned man walk up holding a strange device. "You didn't even build your robots with a defense against electro-magnetic waves."

"Who you?" Og asked.

"The name's Draken. I take it you're all here about a job?"

"Yeah," Ember replied, walking up to Draken. "But I'm thinking there's too many of us going for the same job. Maybe it's time to eliminate some competition?"

A dark haired woman in a green and black outfit jumped between Draken and Ember. "Just try it." The woman said threateningly, holding up her hands which glowed with green energy.

"Allow me to introduce my side-kick, Shego." Draken said smugly, as the two girls stared each-other down.

"Enough!" A voice called.

The group of villains turned to see Vlad standing next to Robotnik.

"Vlad Masters." Said Draken. "The plot thins."

"So you called us here?" Ember asked.

"Indeed," Vlad replied. "I have a proposition to make. How would you all like an opportunity to destroy the Hero League once and for all?" The various villains turned to each other and laughed. "I'm serious. I have a plan to eliminate those fools once and for all. It involves all of you."

"Us?" Jack Spicer asked.

"Indeed. You have all been summoned here because you are the best at what you do. You are the greatest villains in the world, and while you have each failed alone, together we can be victorious."

"yeah, nice speech," Shego scoffed. "But the whole 'villains teaming up' thing has been done to death, don't you think?"

"My dear, I am no fool. I have planned the destruction of the Hero League down to the last detail, and it is foolproof." The villains still seemed hesitant. "Of course, I will be paying handsomely for your services…" At the mention of being paid, even Draken seemed a little more open to the idea. "Then its settled?"

"I don't know about the others," Said Ember. "But you make it worth my while and you've got a deal." The others agreed.

"Excellent." Vlad rubbed his hands together in typical bad-guy fashion and smiled. "Just wait Daniel… soon I will have my vengeance…"

---

Okay, like I said, most of the villains may have been OOC, namely Draken, Shego, and Jack Spicer. That is only because I haven't seen many episodes of Kim Possible or Xiaolin Showdown.

Oh, and Og the Ogre is my original character. I couldn't think of any villains of Jake or June's that I wanted to use, so I just made up a magical creature to fight them.

Review please!


	5. Showdown!

I'm really sorry for the long wait. Enjoy this next chapter!

Oh, and I've decided not to use Spider-Man's villain Hobgoblin in Joker's role, as I had planned. Instead, I'll be using Freakshow, cause a friend of mine helped me see that he'd be a far better choice. Enjoy!

(I own nothing, people. Don't tell me you're surprised?)

---

It was late at night, and the Specter I flew swiftly and silently through the air over Amity Park.

Inside, Sora and Danny sat at the controls, while everyone else was in the back. They had received an urgent call from the police, and now made their way to an abandoned factory on the edge of town.

"So, what's the situation, again?" Sonic asked.

"Robotnik has resurfaced." Danny explained. "He's holding some hostages in an old warehouse, and the police can't get to him, for fear that he'll hurt someone."

"That doesn't really sound like Eggman." Sonic continued. "I mean, sure he's a creep, but he's never just taken hostages like this."

"It doesn't matter." Said June. "If people are in trouble, then we're gonna help."

"Spare me your bleeding-heart speeches." Hiei said flatly. "I just want to get this fool and send him back to prison."

"You're just mad cause he got away from you." Jake replied, causing Sonic and Clover to chuckle.

Hiei growled. "I've slayed dragons before Jake; don't make me do it again!"

"Will you stop it!.?" Danny shouted. "Jeez, we're supposed to fight bad guys, not each other!"

"Danny, the warehouse is up ahead." Said Sora.

"Good. Let's go in for a landing."

They set the Specter I down on the ground near the warehouse and got off one by one.

Danny looked over the structure carefully, trying to spot traps, or any sign of their enemy.

"All right," He said at last. "Let's go in, but be careful everyone."

Slowly and quietly, the League walked inside. Finding it too dark to see anything, Danny used his ghost power to light up his hand and light the way. Once they were all inside, they all looked around.

"Over there!" Clover said in a hushed voice, and pointed across the room. Everyone looked to see a woman lying on the ground, unnervingly still.

The team rushed over and Danny knelt down to check her pulse. "She's alive." He said with a sigh of relief. "Clover, Sora, stay with her while the rest of us look for Robotnik."

Danny stood up and he and the others moved on, while Clover and Sora stayed behind as ordered.

"Do you think she's okay?" Clover asked, as she and Sora looked down at the woman.

"Yes, but that's more than I can say for you…" Sora and Clover gasped when they heard the woman speak, but weren't fast enough to react before she jumped to her feet and punched Sora with a glowing green fist, and kicked Clover.

Danny and the others heard this, but before they could rush back to help them the lights were turned on and Jake, June and Hiei were jumped by a red-haired guy in robotic armor and an ogre.

As for Danny and Sonic, they came face-to-face with none other than Robotnik himself, sitting in his mech.

"Well, well, well, glad you could join us." Robotnik chuckled. He then fired two missiles at Sonic and Danny.

Danny phased through the missiles, while Sonic sped out of the way and the two projectiles hit a far off wall, demolishing it.

Danny then flew at Robotnik, in an attempt to remove him from his mech, but was captured in a ghost-proof net and fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Clover had engaged Shego in hand-to-hand combat, and had quickly learned to avoid her glowing fists. Sora, after recovering from the hit he took, was about to strike Shego with the Keyblade, when he suddenly felt himself pulled up into the air, where he became stuck to a metal plate. He looked down to see Dr. Draken walk up, holding a special remote in his hands. "Like my super-magnet?" He asked smugly. "I'll bet right about now you wish you weren't carrying that big metal Keyblade… or wearing all those ridiculous zippers! Ha!"

Back with the others, Hiei was engaged in battle against Jack Spicer, who was wearing specially made armor. He drew his sword to slice the armor off his foe, but Jack countered with a sword that extended from the right hand of his suit.

Hiei was surprised at the speed with which Jack could move in that suit, but knew if he could just disable it his opponent would be helpless.

Jake and June had their hands full with the Ogre (whom they both recognized, by the way) and even with Jake's speed and June's strength they couldn't seem to slow it down.

At the same time, Sonic was trying desperately to avoid the several rounds of bullets Robotnik shot at him, which kept him from helping Danny.

"Come now Sonic, you haven't started to slow since our last encounter, have you?" Robotnik taunted.

"Not on your life!" Sonic called back. "I'm just getting warmed up!"

Robotnik continued to shoot at Sonic, but finally he ran out of ammunition. "Curses!" He shouted.

Meanwhile, Sonic wasted no time in using a homing attack to knock Robotnik's mech over and rush over to free Danny.

"Thanks Sonic." Said Danny. "Now let's take care of this egg-shaped fruit loop!"

"Right behind you Mon capitan!" Sonic said with a salute, and he and Danny rushed over and attacked the mech, until it was reduced to a pile of dented metal, and Robotnik fled for his life.

Back with June and Jake, they were still struggling against the ogre and had backed off for a moment to catch their breath.

"We need a new strategy." June said, sounding short of breath.

An idea came to Jake, and he smiled down at her. "New strategy, coming up!"

Jake flew up and took June by the hands. He flew as high as the roof would allow, and swooped down at the ogre. He let June go, and she delivered a roundhouse kick to the ogre's jaw, and Jake punched him in the gut, knocking him to the ground.

Clover was doing all she could to keep Shego at bay, but nothing seemed to be working.

"What's the matter Hon?" Shego asked. "Afraid of ruining your manicure?"

"A little, but that's beside the point!" Clover replied. She dropped to the ground and tried to sweep her legs under Shego, but she simply jumped up and over Clover, landing on the other side of her.

Shego prepared to fight again, but was surprised to see Clover run in the other direction.

Sora meanwhile, struggled against the magnet's power.

"Give it up!" Said Draken, as he held up the remote. "As long as I've got this, you haven't got a chance."

"Then let's fix that, shall we?" Clover said, as she ran up and kicked the remote out of Draken's hand. It hit the ground and broke, and Sora fell back to the ground, landing softly on his feet.

Shego was about to jump Clover again when Sora sprang up and struck her into the nearby wall with the Keyblade. Then he turned to Draken and pointed his weapon at him.

"Wait a minute; you can't hit me with that!" Draken said, holding up his arms. "I'm unarmed, it wouldn't be fair!"

"Then how about this?" Clover asked, just before she kicked Draken squarely in the jaw.

"That'll work…" Draken fell to the ground and Clover and Sora gave each other a high-five.

Hiei was still fighting against Jack in his armor, but finally decided he'd had enough. He jumped back from his opponent to get a good look at him, and noticed a power back located on Jack's back.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked, mistaking Hiei's actions for retreat. "Can't handle my superior technology?"

"The worst mistake anyone can make is underestimating their opponent." Hiei replied calmly, just before he lunged at Jack and sliced off the power pack. "Not so superior now, are you?"

Jack, finding his armor powerless, gave a shriek of terror as Hiei attacked again with his sword, slicing and dicing in blur of motion that Jack could barely see. Finally, Hiei stood still and replaced his sword in its sheath.

Jack, finally daring to breath, looked down at himself and was amazed to see he still had his limbs. "Ha!" He laughed. "Looks like you missed!"

"Give it a minute." Hiei answered, just before Jack's armor came apart and fell to the ground in a million pieces, leaving Jack standing in his heart-covered boxers.

Jack shrieked again, but was quickly silenced when Hiei delivered a blow to his jaw, knocking him out cold. Hiei scoffed at how weak his opponent was, but was taken off guard by a blast of sonic energy which flung him into the wall.

Ember, after she was sure Hiei was unconscious, laughed to herself. But when she turned and surveyed her companion's progress and sighed heavily. "This is not good." She said to herself. She pressed a button on a device she wore on her wrist and spoke into it. "Masters, come in. I've gotta talk to you."

"What is it?" Vlad's voice replied through the communicator. "Have you defeated Daniel and the Hero League?"

"Not exactly… everyone's pretty much getting their butts kicked! What now?"

Vlad grumbled angrily a moment, before finally replying "Get everyone out of there and regroup. It's obvious we need a new plan…"

"Roger that." Ember said with a nod, before deactivating the communicator. She then held up her guitar, switched the knob to a picture of an "exit" sign, and ran her fingers across the strings, creating a bright green flash of light, accompanied by a loud note.

Everyone stopped fighting momentarily when they became blinded by the light, and deafened by the note, and by the time both had faded the villains had disappeared.

"What just happened?" Sonic asked, looking all around.

"They got away," Danny replied. That's what happened.

Danny and the others began to search the warehouse for any sign of their foes, and Jake soon found Jack Spicer laying unconscious on the ground. "Looks like we got one of them." He said with a grin.

"Yeah…" Clover replied in a worried tone, causing everyone to turn to her. They saw her kneeling beside a still figure nearby. "…But they got one of us."

Everyone rushed over to find Hiei lying on the ground, unconscious, but still breathing. "Sonic and I will take this guy to the authorities." Danny said, nodding in Jack's direction. "The rest of you need to get Hiei to the Specter Star and get him some medical attention."

The others nodded in understanding, and Jake, being the strongest in his dragon form, lifted Hiei in his arms and carried him away. The others followed, but Danny and Sonic stayed behind.

"Why do you think all these villains teamed up to attack us?" Sonic asked, once he and Danny were alone.

Danny stood silent for a minute, clenching his fist in anger, before finally answering Sonic's question with one word.

"Vlad."

Later, in Robotnik's underground lab, Vlad stood pacing before his band of villains.

"'The best at what you do'…" Vlad quoted himself angrily. "'The greatest villains in the world.' How could I have been so blind!? The lot of you couldn't even fight a _cheerleader_, much less a group of super-powered heroes!"

"In my defense, she had a lot of help from her bumbling boyfriend and that naked rat-thing!" Draken shouted, earning a punch in the arm from Shego.

"Og not think blue girl help very much." Og muttered, pointing a large finger at Ember.

"Hey, at least I managed to take one of them out!" Ember shot back. "Which is more than I can say for the rest of you! That idiot Jack even got himself caught!"

"Enough!" Vlad shouted, before he doubled over in pain from a sudden attack. Robotnik helped him to a chair, and when he recovered he continued. "It's obvious now that I made a mistake before… We need a new strategy."

"Oh, lucky for you, I have just the thing," a voice said nearby. All eyes turned to the door, where they saw a pale man dressed in dark clothes, similar to what a circus ringleader would wear. He carried a staff, topped with a blood-red orb.

"Hello, Vlad," Freakshow said with a grin, "Nice to see you."

"What do you want, Freakshow?" Vlad demanded.

"Why, to join you and your merry band, of course! I also have a perfect plan on how to take down the Phantom, and his meddlesome pals. All I ask is that you leave the demon, Hiei, to me."

"What, your obsession's turned to demons instead of ghosts?" Ember asked with a scoff.

"You might say that…"

"Thank you for the offer," Vlad finally replied, "But I believe I have all the 'muscle' I need."

"Ah, but there is one thing I know that you don't, Vlad," Freakshow protested, and walked over to the white haired man. "You see, demons, unlike ghosts, are very predatory minded beings and when it comes to the more intelligent ones, like this Hiei…" Freakshow reached behind Robotnik's head, and revealed a tiny tracking device. "I know how they think."

Vlad gaped in surprise at the tracking device a moment, before turning his gaze to Freakshow. "I'm listening…"

Back aboard the Specter Star, Hiei slowly awoke to find himself lying on one of the medical beds. He sat up and turned to see Sora sitting nearby, watching over a monitor. Sora noticed Hiei awaken, and walked over to him. "Glad you're awake," he said. "You gave us all a scare. We didn't think you could go down so easily."

"Ghost powers," Hiei replied, flatly, "must have an adverse effect on demons. Where are the others?"

"They went out to investigate. I volunteered to keep watch here."

Hiei just scoffed. "They thought I needed to be watched?" Sora just shrugged his shoulders. He knew better than to debate with Hiei.

Hiei jumped off the bed, and reached into his pocket and pulled out a device.

"What's that?" Sora asked.

"It's a device the two-tailed fox and Danny's friend made. I placed a tracker on Sonic's fat friend at the start of the battle."

Sora gaped in surprise, not even knowing when Hiei had managed to do this, but decided not to ask. "Do you have a reading?"

Hiei nodded, and was about to make his way to the hangar when Sora stood in his way. "I'm going after them," Hiei said bluntly. "And I'm going alone."

"You can't do that, Hiei! I know you're mad at these guys, but you've been hurt and may be in no condition to fight. Besides, we should wait for the others."

"I said I'm going alone, Sora. Or would you like to try and stop me?" Hiei drew his sword a little. "I promise, you won't have an easy time, Keyblade or no."

Sora frowned at Hiei, but moved out of his way. Not out of fear, but because he had no wish to fight his friend.

Hiei nodded, and sheathed his sword. "You're a good man, Sora," he admitted. "That's rare for your species." With that, he stalked off to the hangar.

Sora watched him go for a moment, then rushed to the communicators. "Guys, we have a problem," he said, after he got a hold of the others.

Later that night, Hiei leapt onto the roof of an abandoned building, and slipped inside through an old broken window. Inside, he could hear the sound of the villains talking on a lower floor, and slipped silently through the shadows.

He reached the right floor, where there was a platform above the ground. He stood there, quieter than the shadows he hid in, and looked down to see Vlad and the other villains in a poker game.

"Gin!" Draken shouted victoriously, throwing down his cards. "In your face!"

"For the last time, you moron," Robotnik sighed, "We are playing five card draw!"

"Egg person got any threes?" Og asked stupidly. Robotnik just sighed.

Hiei drew his sword without a sound, and prepared to drop down and attack, when suddenly he felt a painful surge in the back of his brain, which spread down to his arms, chest and legs. He gave out a cry of pain, before falling down over the railing and landing with a crash on top of the poker table.

Vlad and the others jumped from their seats at the sight, and turned their gazes upwards to see Freakshow, holding his still glowing staff, and laughing manically as he looked down a Hiei's unconscious form.


	6. Hiei Captured

Here's another update! Sorry if it's short, but I felt it would be best to end it where I did. Enjoy!

(I do not own anything.)

---

Hiei slowly awoke again, only to find himself restrained. It was an uncomfortable reminded of the time he had his third eye put in, and he jerked awake in surprise. He opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Freakshow's pale, grinning face. Behind him was Vlad and Eggman.

"Good morning, sunshine," Freakshow said in a singsong voice. "And how did we sleep, eh?"

"Who, or what, are you supposed to be?" Hiei asked.

"The name is Freakshow," he gave a bow, "and I am an entertainer at heart. I, using this staff that has been passed down for generations in my family, can control ghosts and bend them to my will."

"Ah, you must be one of the Phantom's friends. When I finish with you, you'll be wishing it was _him_ kicking your ass again."

Freakshow just chuckled. "Oh, I don't think so, Hiei. For you see, my expertise in ghosts and how to control them may have been passed down to me from my father and his father before him, I have recently become interested in demons, as well. Demons, while more powerful than ghosts, do have far more weaknesses. For instance, above you, you will see a Japanese seal," Hiei did indeed see a piece of paper with Japanese writing on it, placed on a frame above his head, so that he could easily read it. "This seal is designed to entrap any demon, no matter how powerful, rending him weak and vulnerable. Impressed?"

"Only that you had enough money to buy one of these. Let me guess, internet?"

"Why yes, as a matter of fact. I found it at but, back to my point. You see, with this seal close to you, you will not be able to break the ropes binding you, and you will not be able to telepathically call your friends. Plus…" Freakshow held up his staff, and Hiei became entranced by the glowing red orb. "While you're so vulnerable, my staff will take control of your mind… you'll be harder to take control of than a ghost, even when you're so weakened, but it will be well worth the effort…"

Hiei tried to resist the power of the orb, but slowly felt his mind weakening… slipping into darkness, from whence he knew he may not return. He tried to force his mind to fight, but could barely keep himself from falling under the spell.

"Freakshow!" Vlad called. Freakshow turned to face him, and the orb's power faded, freeing Hiei's mind again though he felt a dull ache forming in his skull. "That is enough," Vlad continued. "Our agreement was that you could have your little demon pet after you help me eliminate Daniel."

"Oh, but think of how much easier it would be to eliminate him and his friends with a demon on our side!" said Freakshow.

"Or how easily you could turn on me? I will not risk my vengeance on your petty little projects, Freakshow. Now come, let us go prepare for the next step towards our goal. Ivo, you stay and watch the prisoner."

Robotnik nodded in reply and Vlad left followed, begrudgingly, by Freakshow.

"You certainly pick some strange friends," Hiei commented.

Robotnik turned to him with a grin. "So says the man who's friends with a hedgehog, a dragon, and a ghost boy."

Some time later Danny, along with June, were sitting in an interrogation room at Amity Park's Police HQ, sitting across a table from Jack Spicer.

"For the last time," said Danny, "Where are Vlad and the others?"

"And I'm telling you for the last time," Jack replied, "I don't know! Ol' Vladdy-boy never bothered to clue me in on his hide-out."

"You expect us to believe that?!" June demanded.

"Oh, I dunno," Jack turned to her with a grin. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Although, I guess I could try and think of something…" he gave June a wink that made her shudder in disgust. "That is, if you make it worth my while, Gorgeous."

Suddenly, June leapt over the table and grabbed Jack by the collar, causing him to shriek. Before she could hit him, though, Danny caught her arm and gave Jack a glare. "I'd suggest you talk now, or June here's gonna have fun rearranging your face."

"Yeah right," said Jack, though he was starting to sweat. "I know you guys won't beat me up. You don't have it in you!"

"Wanna bet?" June growled. Jack winced, but she just groaned in annoyance and threw him back into his chair.

Jack laughed smugly, and rested his feet up on the table. "Thought so. You good guys are so predictable!"

Danny and June scowled, but their time was up and the police officers came in to take Jack away.

"Well, that coulda gone better," June muttered, as Danny struck the table with his fist in frustration.

"Hiei could have gotten the info out of him," he said to himself.

"Maybe," June replied, "But then again he probably would have just killed him. I know I wanted to." She gave Danny a smile, but from his frown she knew her joking didn't help. "Hey, we'll find him, don't worry about it."

"We should have known he'd try to go after them alone. I should have done more to stop him."

"Danny, you know Hiei. Nothing would have stopped him. It's nobody's fault but Vlad and his gang of rejects. And when we find them, we'll teach them not to mess with us or our friends."

Danny gave June a grateful smile, but his communicator went off and he activated it. "Danny here," he said.

"Danny," Jake's voice said over the communicator, "Sonic and I have looked all over Eggman and Vlad's old haunts—uh, ignore the pun…"

"Dude!" Sonic could be heard laughing in the background. "I get it! Haunts! Cause he used to be half ghost like Danny!"

"Shut up, Sonic!" Jake shouted. "Anyway, we haven't found any clues. I called Clover and Sora, and they haven't found anything after looking up those other guys working with Vlad."

Danny sighed. "Alright," he said. "Tell everyone to keep looking. There's gotta be something. If you don't find anything in two hours, come pick up June and me, and tell the others to meet us on the Specter Star."

"Will do," Jake replied, before the communicator went silent.

"Hiei…" Danny muttered to himself, "I sure hope you're alright."

Little did Danny realize Hiei was better than okay. At the moment, he was currently conversing with Ember, who was his guard at the moment. And they seemed to be hitting it off.

"And so after that," Ember continued, "I just sort of floated through the Ghost Zone trying to get that frosty freak to leave me alone. I bet it must sound pretty pathetic, huh?"

"Not really," Hiei replied. "For all his faults, Danny is a tough opponent. Besides, from what I've seen you're far more competent than all those other fools."

Ember smiled as she leaned against a wall. "You know, I'm almost sorry I knocked you out the other night. You're pretty cool, for a goody-goody."

"Believe me," Hiei returned the smile, "I'm anything but good."

"Hmm, I think you're right…" Ember sauntered closer to Hiei, and their faces came within an inch of each other. "Too bad you had to side with the halfa and his crew. Somethin' tells me you and I could have had some fun. But now I'm stuck with these rejects. At least I've got you as a captive audience."

"By the way, where are your friends?"

Ember shrugged. "Masters and his tubby pal are off scheming somewhere, and the rest are off on a mission except for Freakshow, who I'm guessing is probably off watching Casper the Friendly Ghost in private somewhere.

Hiei nodded, catching Ember's drift. He was none too fond of Freakshow, himself. "And just what mission would that be?"

Ember laughed and placed a finger over Hiei's lips. "Sorry, cutie, but that's on a need-to-know basis. Suffice to say your buddies are in for a big surprise…"

Meanwhile, a spaceship flew up towards the Specter Star. Inside, Shego piloted the ship towards the station, as Draken fiddled with a device in the passenger seat.

"What that thing?" Og asked as he sat in back.

"This, my smelly companion," Draken replied, "is a special device I built to scramble the codes the Hero League have no doubt placed in their space station, thus allowing us to slip inside."

"If it doesn't blow up, first," Shego commented dryly.

"Prepare to eat your words, Shego!" Draken shot back, as he activated his machine. He pointed it at the station, and after a moment was rewarded with the bay doors opening.

"Wow," Shego gasped in amazement.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Draken asked smugly.

"No, I was saying 'wow' to the fact that it actually worked!"

Draken fumed a moment but just crossed his arms. "Just land the ship!" Shego did just that, and the three villains entered the Specter Star.

"Alright, we remember the plan?" Shego asked.

"Of course I do!" Draken shouted. "We just… um… Og, we all know _I _know the plan, so why not show us how well you remember?" Shego rolled her eyes.

"We find good hiding place," Og replied, and picked up a small device, "and put boom-boom box there to blow up good guys."

"Yeah, very nice," Shego said quickly, grabbing the bomb away from Og. "I think I'll just handle the 'boom-boom box', 'kay?"

"Perfect!" said Draken. "Now, let's plant the bomb and get out of here… we wouldn't want to be discovered before the fireworks, would we? Mwahaha!"


	7. Going out With a Bang!

Alrighty, here's the next chapter! It may be a little rushed, though...

Anyway, after this there should only be one chapter left. Two, tops! And that/those could very well be done very soon. Well, enjoy!

(Nothing at all own I.)

Hiei sat silently as he thought about his current situation, and how he could possibly escape. He'd been tied up here for hours, though he lost track of how many, and was getting bored. At least before when Ember was guarding him it was a little interesting. But now it was Robotnik watching him, sitting across the room in an old fold up chair, reading a science magazine.

But just then, the door opened and in walked Freakshow, pulling along a television on a stand. "Good evening," he said to Hiei, as he placed the TV in front of him. He then turned to Robotnik with a grin. "Vlad requests your presence in the control room," he said. "I'll take care of our dark friend, here."

Robotnik looked unsure. "Am I to believe you won't try and use your staff's mumbo jumbo on him before it's time?"

"Trust me, I can wait. Not like it will be that long a wait now, anyway." Robotnik still seemed unsure, but simply stood up and left. He had more pressing matters, anyway.

"What's your game now?" Hiei asked.

Freakshow just smiled and turned on the television. "It's simple, really," he replied. "A few of my associates just returned from a little trip, you see." An image of the Specter Star appeared on the screen. "They visited your impressive space station. Your friends weren't home at the moment, so they just let themselves in and left a parting gift; a specially designed bomb set to go off after a certain time once it detects your friends return. They'll all go back to their little fortress in the sky, completely unaware of what's going on, and after the time runs out… KABLOOEY!" Hiei was unable to suppress a look of shock at this news, but Freakshow simply laughed. "It should be quite the show, shouldn't it? I've even brought popcorn! Oh, look! There they are now!" As an image of Specter I and Specter II flew in and docked into the station, Freakshow stood next to Hiei and munched on popcorn. Hiei looked on, trying to hide a look of concern.

On the Specter Star, Danny and the others got out of the ships and gathered in the control room. They were completely unaware that, like Freakshow said, a bomb had just been activated. "Still no sign of Hiei," Danny muttered to himself. "Or of Vlad and his group. We need some kind of clue…"

"Why couldn't Hiei just tell us telepathically?" Sonic asked himself. "I mean, he should be able to, right? Unless he was…" Jake elbowed him before he could finish. "What? What'd I say?"

"I never should have let him go," Sora sighed. "I just stepped aside and watched him leave. How could I be so stupid?"

"Sora, there was no way you could have stopped him," Clover said softly. "He'd have left no matter what you did." She sighed heavily and added "I just wish he hadn't gone alone." Clover turned to the control panel and looked at the monitor, inspecting the security grid, just in case. That's when something caught her eye. "Hey, guys?" she called. "Something's wrong here." Everyone gathered to look at the monitor. "It says someone was here just a little while ago… while we were all searching for Hiei."

"Who could have gotten in here?" June asked. "And more importantly, what did they do?"

Just then, a beeping went off. "What's that?" Sonic asked.

"That's the private communication line," Danny replied, as he moved to a panel in the wall and placed a pair of headphones and a microphone on his head. "Only a handful of people know how to access it, so it might be Hiei." He quickly flicked on the switch and said "hello." He paused as the person on the other line spoke. "There's what?" Danny asked in alarm. "Wait, who is this?" Before he got a reply, the line went dead, and Danny took the headphones off. "We've got a problem," he said to the others.

"What is it?" Jake asked.

"Whoever that was told me that there's a bomb on the station, and it's going to go off in a matter of minutes!" Everyone gasped in shock, but Danny calmed them. "We need to split up and find that bomb, now! Let's move!"

Danny ghosted through the wall, Sora and Clover rushed off in different directions, and June and Jake jumped and flew to the higher levels. Sonic, meanwhile, sped off at top speed rushing through every room he could think of.

Back at their hideout, Vlad and his associates watched the image of the Specter Star with great interest, as did Freakshow. Sweat poured from Hiei's head, as he waited and watched.

Sonic, after rushing through nearly ever room and level in the station, came across a strange device hidden behind some pipes and wires. To his horror, the bomb had been placed far too close to the main power source, which would ensure the explosion took out the entire station. "They sure know how to throw a party," Sonic said to himself as he picked up the bomb and rushed to the hangar. He saw the others on his way and shouted "I found it! Open the hangar doors!"

Jake was the closest, and flew in dragon form to the hangar door controls. He pressed a button and the enormous doors opened out into space. Sonic skidded to a stop and hurled the bomb out, just before the doors were closed again. Now they had to hope the bomb moved far enough away from the station, or they'd still be in trouble…

Back in the hideout, Freakshow checked his watch. "Almost time," he said with a chuckle. "Five… four… three… two… one…"

Hiei watched, eyes wide open… but nothing happened.

"Oh dear, I started too early," said Freakshow. Hiei growled at him. "Let's try again! Five… four… three…" Suddenly, an explosion covered the TV screen, blocking the view of the station. "Oops. Oh well. Enjoying the fireworks, Hiei? Haha!"

Hiei clenched his teeth together, and struggled against his restraints. If he were only free, he'd give Freakshow something to laugh about.

In his control room, Vlad watched the scene unfold on his own wide-screen display, seated before Robotnik and the others. He smiled triumphantly as he pet his cat, Mattie, and watched the explosion.

"Farewell, Daniel," he said to himself. "You were a worthy opponent."

But then, the bright light and smoke from the explosion cleared away from sight and there, still intact, was the station.

"What?!" Vlad roared. "How could this be?! There's no way they could have known about the bomb, there was no--!" Suddenly, Vlad doubled over as another attack struck him. Robotnik helped him back into his chair, as he gasped for air.

"Vlad okay?" Og asked.

"Never mind," Vlad snapped in reply. "Just leave me to think."

"Shouldn't we plan our next move, or something?" Shego asked.

"Just go!" At that last outburst, Drakken, Shego, Ember and Og all shrugged their shoulders and left the room. Robotnik, however, remained behind.

"I cannot go on like this…" Vlad gasped.

"What if I could help?" Robotnik asked, as he stood over Vlad. "What if I could use my technological genius to not only keep your disease at bay but could restore your ghost powers as well?"

Vlad looked up at the Eggman, still wincing in pain. "Can you do that?"

Robotnik nodded. "I've done a bit of study on ghost phenomenon, myself," he said. "I believe I have the knowledge."

Vlad could barely believe it… to be well again, to have his powers back! To be able to eliminate Daniel from his life once and for all with his own hands. He looked at Robotnik and asked the only question he needed answered now. "How much will it cost?"

Robotnik just grinned.

Back with Hiei and Freakshow, the ghost-obsessed ringleader glared disappointedly at the image of the undamaged Specter Star, and with a sigh simply tipped the television over, letting it crash to the ground. "I hate when someone gives away the ending," he muttered.

Hiei, masking his relief, just scoffed. "As usual," he said smugly, "you and your foolish friends prove your worthlessness."

Freakshow, now thoroughly miffed, grabbed his staff and turned towards Hiei.

"Perhaps," he hissed as his staff began to glow, "But that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun, myself…"

Hiei once again found the staff's power struggling for of his mind, but was relived when a large hand fell on Freakshow's shoulder and spun him around.

"Vlad no want you alone with prisoner," Og grumbled.

"What?" Freakshow asked, feigning innocence. "I wasn't going to do anything." Og looked down skeptically at Freakshow's staff. "Oh… well, after all, what's a bit of hypnosis between friends, huh?" Og just pushed Freakshow towards the door, and he brushed off his coat before leaving the room. "Humph! Party-pooper…"

Once he was gone, Og turned to Hiei who sighed, perhaps just a little too heavily. "Thanks," he said. "You came just in time." Og just shrugged his massive shoulders. Hiei cleared his throat—and if Og were any brighter he might have noticed that this action, too, seemed a bit exaggerated. "Could I get a glass of water?"

Og, suspecting nothing, walked over to a water cooler nearby and filled a paper cup. After bringing the cup to Hiei, he held it up for the fire demon to drink. Hiei grinned as he sloshed the liquid in his mouth and spit it overhead, hitting the seal.

"Uh-oh…" said Og, as he stared up at the seal, its ink running in long streaks and the paper tearing from the weight of the water.

Hiei grinned smugly at the ogre. "Thanks again," he said, and closed his eyes as he telepathically sent a message to the others.

On the Specter Star, Danny and the others gathered in the control room and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "I thought we were done for," Sora admitted.

"Nah, your favorite blue blur had everything under control," Sonic replied, though he wiped away the sweat from his forehead as he did so. "Who was that that warned us, anyway?"

"I don't know," Danny replied. "Whoever it was disguised their voice."

"Well, it could have been the Blue Falcon for all I care," said Clover. "Hiei is still missing. What are we going to do next?"

"What we'll have to do is…" Danny suddenly stopped and held his head as a voice seemed to shout inside his mind. A familiar voice. One look at the others and he could tell they heard it too.

"Hiei's alive!" Sonic cheered.

"And he's giving us coordinates," Jake added.

Danny smiled and turned towards the hangar. "Alright guys, we know where he is, and Vlad and his goons must be there, too. So let's go kick some villain butt!"


	8. Hero League vs Villain League

Well, here's the last chapter at long last! I hope you've all enjoyed this story, and stay tuned to the end of the chapter for a sneak peak at the next Hero League adventure!

Thanks for reading!

(I own squat, and wrote this purely for fun, nothing else.)

Locked away in his lab, Robotnik toiled away tinkering with different devices, putting together what looked like a suit of black armor.

"Tell me again how this will work?" said Vlad, as he sat nearby, watching.

"It's simple," Robotnik replied without turning away from his work, "your 'ecto-cancer' was brought on by exposure to highly concentrated ghost rays, correct?"

"Yes…"

"Well, by using your ghost powers, you only fed the disease until finally it has left you in this state. However, by blocking the effects of the disease with ecto-ranium, the rare anti-ghost material, we can nullify its effects. This suit will do just that, but will concentrate only on the cancer, giving you full access to your powers again!" Robotnik turned to Vlad with a grin. "Not to mention, I'm putting in a few additions that you'll no doubt find quite useful."

Vlad, intrigued, looked down at the nearly complete armor. "For all the hype," he said, "it had better be worth what you charged."

"Not to worry," said Robotnik as he put the finishing touches on the suit, "You won't be disappointed…"

Outside the lab, the other villains were sitting around, waiting for their next plans. Ember read an old magazine, Freakshow watched TV, and Shego filed the claws on her gloves as Drakken paced back and forth around the room.

"What exactly is your problem?" Shego asked her long-time boss.

"There's evil genius-ing at work in there, I know it!" Drakken moaned. "And they didn't even ask for my help!"

"Yeah, see, that could be because they require evil _geniuses_."

Drakken was about to reply when Og ran in, panting for breath. "Oh, it's the ogre," Drakken mumbled. "What's wrong with you? Lose your talking donkey or something?"

"Why aren't you watching the prisoner?" Ember asked.

"Og _was_ watching him," the ogre replied, "but then little demon man asked for water, so Og gave it to him."

"So, what?" Shego asked. "Now he has to go, or something?"

Og shook his head. "Nuh-uh, demon spit at funny paper circus guy put up and it got ruined. Now demon call Hero League for help!"

"What?!" Freakshow roared. "You imbecile! Now he'll lead them right to us!"

Drakken, in a state of panic, turned to the lab door and pounded on it. "Masters! We've got a situation!"

Inside, Vlad had already donned the now complete armor, which was completely black except for the gloves and boots, and a combined V and P similar to Danny's insignia on his chest which were all white. He was also wearing a greenish-blue Dracula-like cape. He was laid out on a table, as Robotnik fiddled with some machines and generators which created so much noise that Drakken's shouting and knocking was unheard.

"Now, we have to jump-start the suit's battery," Robotnik explained, "in order for the suit to work. It will take only a minute, but I must warn you… it will hurt a little." Without another second's hesitation, Robotnik flipped a switch, and several generators shot out bolts of pure energy which hit Vlad right in the chest. He ground his teeth and clenched his fist against the surge of electricity that coursed through him, but finally relaxed when the generators were switched off.

Robotnik, after shutting down all the machines, stepped forwards towards the table, and smiled manically as Vlad's fingers twitched. "It's alive…" he laughed, rubbing his hand in typical mad scientist fashion. "IT'S ALIVE!!! Ah… I've always wanted to say that."

Vlad sat up, slowly, and rubbed his head. "How do you feel?" Robotnik asked.

Vlad paused a moment, but finally turned to Robotnik with a grin. "Better than ever," he replied.

Finally, the two heard Drakken pounding on the door, and Robotnik opened it.

The blue villain fell face-first into the room, while the others rushed in over him.

"The idiot ogre let Hiei destroy that charm-thing!" Shego fumed. "Now he's probably called the Hero League!"

"Let them come, then…" all eyes turned to Vlad as he stood to his full height. Then, to their surprise, he became surrounded by two black rings that passed over him. When they faded, he was transformed into his ghost form, and the black armor had changed to white, as well as his white gloves, boots and insignia which change to black. His blue cape was now blood red, just like his eyes. "Now Daniel and his friends will come to us," he continued, "and the end of the Hero League shall finally be at hand! But first…" He turned to a nearby monitor and turned it on, showing video footage of Hiei, obviously taken from a security camera earlier. "I believe its time to weed out the traitor."

"A traitor?" Drakken asked.

"Yes. Someone had to have alerted the Hero League about that bomb. It couldn't have been Hiei; therefore it had to have been one of us. And lo and behold, one of us has not been one-hundred percent loyal to the cause…"

The villains watched the audio-devoid camera footage with anticipation, and saw to their surprise that it was from Ember's turn to guard Hiei. The villains scowled in disbelief at the way she flirted with him, but the real shock was when she leaned over and kissed him passionately on the lips.

Everyone turned to glare at the ghost woman, whose eyes widened in shock. "Wait," she said, backing away, "you can't think that I… I mean, we did, but I didn't… Look, it's not what it looks like!"

Suddenly, Vlad lifted a fist and from his wrist he fired a small dart which hit Ember in the shoulder. The dart gave her a shot, no doubt from some kind of ghost power nullifying technology, and she fell to the ground.

"Og," said Vlad, "Escort our sleeping beauty to a holding cell." Og nodded and picked Ember up, then carried her away. "And as for the rest of you," he turned to the others and smiled, showing off his fangs, "We have to prepare for our guests."

Meanwhile, Danny and the others were on their way to the location Hiei had mentally shown them, which was the abandoned warehouse on the edge of Amity Park.

Sora piloted the Specter I and landed nearby, and the heroes got off the ship and approached the building only to find all doors and entrances locked tight.

"What do we do now?" Sonic asked.

"Considering there's a secret hideout full of villains who have our friend held captive," said June, "may I suggest we take the direct approach?"

Danny grinned as he nodded, and his hands began to glow with a green aura. He raised his fists and blasted the nearest door off its hinges with an ecto-blast. "Direct enough for you?" he asked, and he led the others inside.

"Alright," said Danny, "according to Hiei there's a hidden lab under this warehouse. We need to find the entrance, get Hiei out, and stop Vlad and his gang."

"Not necessary, Daniel," Vlad's voice boomed from several speakers and his face appeared on a large screen which descended from the ceiling. He was in his human form again. "Welcome, Hero League. I've been expecting you. I trust you remember my associates… the Villain League?" A large hidden door on the wall opposite the League rose up, revealing Robotnik, Og, Drakken and Shego, all ready for battle. "As you can see, we've all prepared a welcoming party for you. Or should I say a farewell party? Get them!"

As ordered, the villains jumped into battle. Robotnik, in his mech, fired on Jake and Danny who both flew out of the way, while Og jumped into the air towards Juniper and Sonic. The blue hedgehog barely managed to push the Te-Xuan-Ze out of the way before the ogre came crashing to the ground.

Shego flipped with acrobatic skill over to Clover and kicked her back. Sora helped her up again, as the black haired villainess raised her glowing green fists. Drakken was not far behind her.

"Wanna trade?" Clover asked.

"No problem," Sora replied, and he raised the Keyblade to deflect an attack from Shego.

Jake, blowing fire at an oncoming missile, tried to get closer to Robotnik's mech, but was having little success. "Hey, Danny!" he called. "We need to take this tech-creep's weapons out!"

"I know!" Danny replied, trying to doge anti-ghost missiles. "But he's making it a point to keep us at arms length!"

"Give it up!" Robotnik laughed. "My mech is armed to the teeth with specially designed missiles! You can't dodge them forever!"

Sonic, meanwhile, was zipping around avoiding Og's fists while June was on his back, holding onto the ogre's neck for dear life. "He's not getting tired!" she shouted.

"Just hold tighter!" Sonic shouted as he zoomed out of the way of Og's left fist, only to hop away from the right. "Try and cut off his airways! Haven't you ever seen that part with the giant guy in 'The Princess Bride'?"

"This isn't a movie, Sonic!" June shrieked. "Its real-life!"

"What's your point?"

As Sora fought off Shego, Clover flipped over to stand before Drakken, who stood smugly with his hands behind his back.

"What, no fancy device, or weirdo invention?" Clover asked tauntingly.

"No, I thought I'd do this the old-fashioned way," Drakken replied, "man-to-man. Er, um, or man to woman, as it were."

Clover couldn't resist laughing. "Wait, you? Fighting? Yeah, right! In case you haven't noticed, I'm a martial-arts master with all kinds of super gadgets, and all you have is blue skin, an ugly outfit, and…" Suddenly, Clover was knocked to the ground and when she got back up she saw that it was some kind of flowery vine that appeared to be growing from Drakken's back. "…And apparently you've got plant powers nobody told me about…"

Drakken grinned triumphantly. "Indeed. How's that for flower-power?!" He laughed, but suddenly bright yellow petals grew around his head. "Oh, darn it, I thought I'd gotten rid of that!"

Danny and Jake, still held at bay by Robotnik's missiles, were beginning to get tired of flying around, and were starting to run out of flying space as the missiles began to reach farther and farther.

"I've had just about enough of this!" Danny shouted. He turned towards Robotnik at the first chance he got, and taking in a deep breath he let loose a ghostly wail which sent the missiles headed for him right back at the mech.

Robotnik shouted as his mech was rocked by the explosions, and Jake saw this as an opening to swoop in and blast the mech with a fireball. Robotnik barely managed to jump away before his invention blew up, only to be met by Danny.

"What's up, Doc?" he asked before he delivered a punch to Robotnik's jaw, which sent him to the floor unconscious. Jake landed nearby, and they turned to see Sonic and June still busy with Og.

"Need help?" Jake called.

"Nah," Sonic replied, still dodging the behemoth. "We're good!"

"Speak for yourself, you blue rat!" June shouted, still holding tightly to the ogre's throat. Finally, Og began to grow short of breath, and collapsed to the ground.

June rolled away from the ogre, panting for breath, when Sonic stood over her smiling. "Told ya it'd work," he said.

"If I weren't so tired…" June gasped, "…I would kill you…"

Sora parried all of Shego's attacks with the Keyblade, but she never seemed to tire. "You're not a bad fighter, kid," she admitted as she tried to claw Sora's chest.

"Well," Sora replied, narrowly avoiding a punch, "you're not the first crazy green woman that's tried to kill me."

"Aw, and here I was hoping I was your first." She delivered a kick that sent him staggering back, but he managed to regain his footing and raise the Keyblade before she could hit him with a blast of green energy. "But then again, I've always liked men with experience."

"Yeah? Then how about this?" Sora raised the Keyblade and brought it down hard, and Shego barely managed to block the attack with her arms, saving her from a blow to the head. But then Sora spun around, swinging the Keyblade right into her middle, and sent her flying.

Clover tried to avoid the flowery vines which were shooting out at her, but soon found her arms and legs tied together, as Drakken laughed to himself. "Well, well, well, looks like I've gained the upper hand! Any last words?"

Clover frowned, but suddenly a smile came over her face. "Yeah," she replied. "Duck."

"Duck? What kind of last word is…? Ah!" Drakken was knocked over when Shego slammed into him. They both fell to the ground, entangled in Drakken's vines.

Clover, breaking free, stood and grinned down at the two. "You know, you guys are almost a cute couple. When you're immobilized, that is."

Meanwhile, Freakshow hid nearby, watching the fighting. "Looks like its time to gracefully bow out," he said, but grinned as he took out his staff. "But, first, time to tie up some loose ends…" Silently, he headed off towards the room where Hiei was held.

"Everyone okay?" Danny asked, as they all assembled together.

"No sweat," Sonic replied, earning a glare from June. "You'd have thought Vlad would've learned by now that these guys just don't cut it."

"Oh, you'd be surprised what I've learned." At the sound of his voice, the League turned around to see Vlad walk in, wearing his new armor. "Bravo, Daniel, bravo. You and you friends have done well, but I'm afraid the game has come to an end. And I win."

"Um, are you blind, or something?" Clover asked. Then she saw his armor. "Ew, apparently you are, or you wouldn't be wearing _that_."

"Its over, Vlad," said Danny. "Come quietly, and nobody gets hurt."

"Oh, but Daniel," Vlad said with a smile, "Where would the fun be in that?"

"Vlad, you're a sick man and you have no powers. I don't want to fight you."

"Once again, you've reminded me why your grades were always so low. Prepare for your doom, Hero League!" Suddenly, Vlad was surrounded by the black energy rings again and transformed into his ghost form, much to Danny's shock. "Yes, Daniel, Plasmius is back in town!"

Vlad leapt into the air and landed with a thud in the middle of the League, and fired a huge wave of ecto-energy that knocked everyone over.

"As you can see," he gloated, "Robotnik was kind enough to design this suit for me. And he even gave me a few extras." Sonic, the first back on his feet, tried to zip behind Vlad to knock him down, but instead found Vlad suddenly behind him. "Like my new enhanced speed?" he asked, before he punched Sonic, sending him down to the ground.

June jumped into the air and came down to kick Vlad in the head, but he turned quicker than June expected and grabbed her foot, then threw her down to the ground. She flipped back up and tried to punch him, but he caught her fist and squeezed hard, forcing her to her knees.

"Enhanced strength, as well," Vlad sneered as June whimpered in pain.

Jake, eyes burning red, shot into the air above Vlad. "Let her go!" he shouted, and shot a jet of flame at him.

Vlad just grinned and tossed June aside before a force field formed around him, absorbing the flames. "Like my heat shield? It can absorb heat of any kind, concentrate it…" suddenly, the flame shot back at Jake, knocking him to the ground. "…And fire it back."

Next, Sora tried to attack with the Keyblade, but Vlad caught it in his hands, and an electric shock shot from them and traveled through the Keyblade into Sora, who fell unconscious to the floor. Then, Vlad reached out a hand just as Clover threw a concussion grenade and without a second thought crushed it in his hand before firing a net back at her.

Danny, the last to recover, glared at his old foe who smiled cruelly back.

"And now it ends, dear boy," said Vlad. "Finally, after all the times you've ruined my plans, and my life, I will finally have my revenge."

"I've said it before, Vlad, and I'll say it again," Danny replied. "You are, and always will be, one seriously messed up fruit loop!"

With a roar, Vlad lunged for Danny. Danny flew into the air and the two zoomed at each other like jousters, before they collided in the air. Danny punched Vlad in the gut and the jaw, and Vlad returned the favor with a kick to the chest and an ecto-blast to the face.

Finally, they broke apart again. Danny was huffing and puffing to regain his breath, but Vlad just smiled.

"Give up, yet?" he asked smugly.

"Not on your after-life!" Danny shouted back, and threw another punch. But Vlad simply went intangible and allowed Danny's fist to pass right through.

"When will you learn, child? With this suit, I am invincible!" Suddenly, however, Vlad felt an electric shock that forced hit to his hands and knees, and he suddenly returned to his human form. "Wha… what?!" he moaned. "How?!"

"That's what I'd like to know, too," said Danny, equally surprised. He heard a soft chuckle and was even more surprised when he turned around to see Robotnik walking up, holding a small remote in his hands.

"You!" Vlad hissed.

"Did I fail to mention the remote control override system I installed?" he asked.

Sonic and the others, who were just recovering again, were also slack-jawed in shock at the Robotnik's revelation. "Whoa, wait!" Sonic called. "What's Ro-butt-nik doing taking out the bad guy?"

"I suppose you're all wondering, aren't you?" Robotnik asked. "Its very simple. You see, I made an arrangement with your friend, Hiei. He made an offer I simply couldn't refuse, and I agreed to sabotage Vlad's plans."

"So it was you who warned us about the bomb?" Jake asked.

"Exactly. And when I built Vlad this suit, I also installed a few safeguards to render him harmless. I've deactivated all the suits weapons systems and effectively disabled his ghost powers again." He turned to give a cruel grin to Vlad, who glared daggers at him in return. "It was also Hiei's idea to get you to think the traitor was Ember. And you fell for it, completely."

"Wait, where _is_ Hiei?" Clover demanded.

"Oh, not to worry, dear. I have a feeling he's doing just fine."

Meanwhile, Freakshow snuck down into the room where Hiei was held, staff at the ready, but was horrified to see only an empty chair and broken ropes.

"Oh, this is definitely not good…" he said, and started to back out of the room. But then, a sword swung out of the shadows and was held too close for comfort against his throat.

Hiei moved behind Freakshow, who trembled terribly. "What's the matter, human?" Hiei asked in his most venomous voice. "I thought you found demons fascinating. Aren't you the least bit interested in seeing first-hand how one kills its prey?"

Freakshow forced himself to laugh, though it came out more of a weak chuckle. "Y-you wouldn't really… kill me, would you? …Hiei?"

"Why don't you take a guess, Freakshow?" Freakshow swallowed nervously and clamped his eyes shut. Hiei slowly lifted his sword into the air, then brought it straight down on Freakshow's head. But, just before it struck, Hiei turned the blade so that the flat side hit, thus sparing the gothic circus master.

Freakshow turned around, dazed, and slurred "you're dethpicable…" before falling unconscious to the floor.

Hiei could only shake his head as he sheathed his sword. "I must be going soft…"

Later, the police arrived to carry all the villains away to maximum security prison. They had just loaded them all into the transport with the Hero League keeping close watch, when Drakken shouted "Curse you, Hero League! You think you're all that, but you're…!"

"SHUT UP, DRAKKEN!" the other villains shouted, and he slunk low in his seat.

Robotnik, who had given himself up willingly, was the last to be loaded up, but was allowed to stop and talk to Hiei. "You will hold up your end of the deal, I trust?" he asked.

Hiei nodded. "The money will be wired to your account as soon as possible." Robotnik nodded back, and was escorted into the transport which drove off.

Danny turned a confused look to Hiei and said "what money? I didn't think you had enough to bribe him."

"I don't," Hiei replied, "but I promised him he'd get double what Vlad was paying."

"And just how is he gonna get that money?"

Hiei just gave Danny what could have been a grin. "I trust you're still dating the Manson girl?"

"What?" Danny's eyes widened. "Oh, no! I can't! Hiei, they hate me as it is!"

As the transport drove off, Clover noticed Ember wink at Hiei through the window, and a funny look came over her face. "Hiei?" she said. "Robotnik said that you'd gotten Vlad to blame that ghost girl somehow. Exactly what went on while they had you prisoner…?"

Suddenly, Hiei became very still. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was at a loss for words. "Well… of course I had very limited options, and… well, I needed to find some way to incriminate someone so that Robotnik's and my plan wasn't discovered…"

Suddenly, Sonic began to laugh. "Oh… my… God!" he chuckled. "Looks like our favorite samurai was playing 'jail house rock' with that ghost chick!"

Hiei, turning red with anger, drew his sword and rushed after Sonic, who ran away at top speed. "Get back here, rodent!"

"Hey!" Clover called and ran after them. "I want an answer!"

Danny, Jake and June laughed, but then Jake turned to Danny. "So, what exactly do you think Robotnik wanted to do with that money, anyway?" Danny could only shrug.

Later, in his cell, Vlad paced around, wincing as though in pain. He still wore a smaller, lighter version of his armor under his clothes. And while this version didn't have all those weapons or allow him the use of his ghost powers, it did keep his disease in check. But it wasn't the disease that caused him pain; it was the blaring sound of opera music coming from the next cell.

"I'll get you for this, Ivo!" he shouted, pounding on the wall. "I swear, you'll pay for this!"

Robotnik didn't hear. He just sighed contentedly and sat back as he watched the opera come to a close on his television.

"Thank you for watching," the announcer said. "Tonight's program was made possible by a generous donation from Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and viewers like you…"

Robotnik sighed again, and placed his hands behind his head. "I do so enjoy the opera…"

The End

Next time on Hero League…

"You know THE Team Possible?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, we go way back," Jake replied. "We worked together years ago, and we've been friends ever since."

---  
"I'm sorry it had to end this way, Mr. Possible," Sevarius' voice said over the speaker, as Ron looked around for an escape. "But unfortunately, you now know too much about my experiments. Rest assured, your death will not be in vain, but will be of the greatest contribution to science! And don't worry, I'll be sure to give your dear Kimberly your regards."

Just then, a strange blue gas filled the chamber, and Ron began to cough. _What am I gonna do… ?_ he thought, just before he blacked out.

---

Kim brought her car to a stop and got out to see what all the commotion was about. But what she saw as the smoke cleared was a terrible shock. For standing there was an all-too familiar figure, his shirt torn, his hair disheveled, and an odd blue aura around him as he stood in the middle of the wreckage. She wanted to run to him, but then he looked at her, his eyes glowing bright blue, and he rushed off into the night. Kim hit her knees, as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Ron…"

---

Jake turned with a look of sadness to the others, and shook his head. "I don't know how I can do this…" he said. "I don't know how I can force myself to bring down one of my best friends…"

---

Next time:

Hero League 3: Unstoppable.


End file.
